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Nik Nadeau 임창훈

@nikchanghoon.bsky.social
417 followers 301 following 69 posts

Korean adoptee writer. '24 Annie Dillard Prize for CNF winner & Iowa Review Award finalist. '24-25 Bread Loaf, Tin House & Kenyon alum. CNF reader @ Hypertext Review. nikchanghoon.com

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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
My new lyric essay is now out in The @kenyonreview.bsky.social! Read it here: kenyonreview.org/piece/emotio...
kenyonreview.org
Emotionally Self-Aware Adoptive Parent: Contract for Services - The Kenyon Review
Already have an account? Log in Join KR for even more to read. Sign up for a free account and read any five pieces a month. Sign Up and Read […]
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Just updated my writer bio (nikchanghoon.com) and you know what? It makes me smile. My deepest thanks to every instructor, mentor & fellow artist who's carried me (not to mention my literal words) forward, when "forward" can often feel like falling behind, falling asleep, or just plain falling.
Screenshot of author bio: Nik Chang Hoon 임창훈 (he/him) is a Korean transracial adoptee, memoirist and poet based in Minneapolis. His creative nonfiction won the 2024 Annie Dillard Prize (Bellingham Review) and was named a finalist for The Iowa Review Award in nonfiction. His poetry has appeared in The Plentitudes (Winter 2025) and the Blue Earth Review (2024 Minnesota BIPOC Emerging Writer Award Runner-Up), and was named a 2024 MAYDAY Micro-chapbook Contest finalist. His most recent essays are forthcoming in The Kenyon Review and The Texas Review, respectively.

Nik is a 2024-25 alum of the Bread Loaf, Kenyon Review and Tin House writers workshops, and will attend the 2025 Bread Loaf Writers' Conference as a staff scholar in poetry. Since 2023 he has trained under some of the United States' most acclaimed writers and poets, including Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Mitchell S. Jackson, Nicole Chung, Jami Nakamura Lin, Emilly Prado, Jenny Boully, Rajiv Mohabir, Sun Yung Shin, Q.M. Zhang, Shannon Gibney and Michael Kleber-Diggs.

LEAVE ME, DON’T LEAVE ME, his memoir-in-progress, attempts to reconstruct his adoption origin story through personal narrative, epistles to first-family members, and speculative interstitials (e.g, to converse with his non-adopted self). As he unearths his own version of the truth, he finds acceptance of the self he has gained – even at the irreversible cost of the one he has lost. The memoir also critiques intercountry adoption as a capitalistic practice and argues for reparations to the 200,000-plus Koreans exported to Western countries since the Korean War.

In past lives Nik has worked as a DEI practitioner, executive speechwriter, campaign communications director, writing center instructor and Korean high school English teacher through the Fulbright program. He enjoys taking walks with his wife and their very spoiled golden doodle, whose hobbies include barking at perfectly nice pedestrians and attempting to befriend the neighbor’s chickens.
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
It began with a prompt at the 2024 Kenyon Review Writers Workshop: "Write a lyric essay that takes on an unexpected form." I wrote something, revised & delivered it at the participant reading, and was encouraged to submit it. Still in disbelief that it will appear in the @kenyonreview.bsky.social!
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
There is no better feeling than meeting fellow adoptee writers who are committed to telling the historical & emotional truths about adoption #AWP25
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Adoptee writer power
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
What @shannongibney.bsky.social said!
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
Blown away by the work of all these adoptee writers: youtube.com/@adopteelite...
youtube.com
Adoptee Literary Festival
The Adoptee Literary Festival brings together writers who self-identify as having been adopted, fostered, or otherwise displaced to share their stories, make their voices heard, and reshape the narrat...
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
My first adult memory of culture dysphoria: realizing my own language was written on the back of a package of photo paper, and not knowing exactly which one it was.
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
"Did you hit your word count goal today...?"
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Yesssssss
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Contacted my legislators to urge restored funding for #Fulbright & #CriticalLanguageScholarship (CLS) programs. I reunited with my first mother while on a Fulbright grant in 2010 and met her again after supervising the CLS Korea program in 2016. My life literally would not be the same without them.
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
On the plus side I presume they're not chasing away FedEx deliveries and barking at perfectly well-mannered pedestrians all day ;)
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
I'm so glad I have a dog whose boundless energy motivates me to get up and write
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
An old essay I wrote for my Korean language class ~2008. I am describing my search & reunion and clearly struggling to do so in a grammatically correct way. 3rd sentence: "I also thought a lot about whether my birth mother wouldn't want to meet me even if I wanted to meet her."
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
For adoptees, what is "speculation" other than our everyday existence? Not just our alternate (non-adopted) worlds & selves, but also: what if our second parents understood adoption as a capitalist system? our first parents spoke fluent English? our searches & reunions actually worked out? etc. etc.
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Processing lately: how unconditional love can also include my own agency, boundaries & grieving over what a family member is unable to be or provide. That it's ok to be purely selfish to understand how I would want to be loved, accept how I am actually loved & grieve (let go of?) the difference
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Last night I made 떡볶이 (spicy Korean rice cake). I cook Korean food often but typically not 떡볶이and fortunately it turned out Korean wife-approved. These small victories mean a lot to me, more than I'm sometimes willing to admit. #KoreannessReclamationProject
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Omg that's ridiculous so sorry you had to experience this ignorance and meanness
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
This one should be good! @adoptionmosaic.bsky.social
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Started as a nonfiction reader for a lit mag recently. It's already helping me see my own writing in new ways. Also, people format SO differently.
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
I haven't heard from my first (birth) mother in a half year. Last time this happened, I was considering flying to Korea or hiring a PI. This time, with more context & processing, I am learning to accept that even if she explains later, there is much she chooses to withhold #thisisadoption
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
KAAN is offering three different versions of a webinar discussion on the PBS docu that came out last fall: linktr.ee/KAANcommunity
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
One of the obsessions I've been writing into lately: short track speedskating. I imagine a lot, wish a lot, regret some about starting this sport so late. Leaning into turns (always left, lol) feels like what my body was designed to do. Hockey was ... not 😂
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Best goal to be behind on ever!
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Can't imagine my memoir project, writing life nor my human heart w/o @tinhouse.bsky.social Winter Workshop & our brilliant CNF workshop leader @nicolechung.bsky.social. "Back to writing" never felt so good! Deep thanks to @almajor.bsky.social & Lance Cleland for investing so much in us as writers.
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Because some days, the name of the poet, teacher & mentor who's left an indelible mark on you & your writing over the past decade appears in your inbox, for the most glorious of reasons. Congrats, @sunyungshin.bsky.social !!! May 2026 can't come soon enough~
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
I ended up leaving my house like this yesterday. metaphor for: adhd life (actually real tho). korean-american cultural ID? light amid darkness? hip-spine misalignment?
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
@vesnajaksiclowe.bsky.social you're seriously too kind. I miss our time at Kenyon so much! all the ❤️ back your way~
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Can't wait to return to this beautiful mountain for the 100th year of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, this time as a staff scholar! August can't come soon enough~
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Cannot contain my excitement for this! @shannongibney.bsky.social #AdopteeLitFest2025
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
Took @jaminlin.bsky.social's "Style, Structure and Self-Accommodation" craft intensive via @tinhouse.bsky.social today & felt so understood as a neurodivergent writer & person
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Omg TY @vesnajaksiclowe.bsky.social! All the same back to you & your work ~
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
Thank you so much for taking the time to read it! And yes, we adoptees despite the wide diversity of experiences, all share common themes of loss, abandonment/relinquishment, and reclaiming
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
Oh TY so much!!!
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
Omg thank you so very much! #adopteesunite
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Still can't believe it: an essay that started as a poem in an adoptee poetry workshop won the 2024 Annie Dillard Prize in Creative Nonfiction & just went live in the Bellingham Review today. It takes the form of a letter to my Korean bio father, who refuses to meet me: bhreview.org/articles/aba...
bhreview.org
Abandoned supposings: A letter to my non-father’s silence - Bellingham Review
Winner of the 2024 Annie Dillard Prize (Nonfiction) “Maybe my thinking has been wrong all along. Maybe silence is not something to interact with, to be
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Already registered :) can't wait!!!!
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
Writing conferences in general make me so happy. They make me ecstatic when they're unexpectedly full of other adoptee writers (domestic, intercountry, transracial, etc.) whose work spans all genres imaginable, and how we all root for each other in our collective efforts to center #adopteevoices
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
I am a former strategic comms / speechwriting professional and my wife is a UX designer. It took us collectively 30+ mins to figure out how to pay our health insurance premium on our provider's own user portal. The trick: you have to search "payment" in the search box to be taken to a 3rd-party site
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
This is the second consecutive year I will be spending the holidays apart from family. It is my choice, but not one that I choose joyfully. How difficult it is to be loved in the way we are asking. We are not asking for too much.
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
All I want for Christmas is to live in an area where "Asian" isn't the name of a grocery aisle
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
All this month I'm writing a poem a day to support @tupelopress.bsky.social! Follow my progress and consider making a small donation to support one incredible indie publisher: www.tupelopress.org/the-december...
tupelopress.org
THE DECEMBER, 2024 30/30 PROJECT PAGE
Welcome to the 30/30 Project, an extraordinary challenge and fundraiser for Tupelo Press, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) literary press. Each month, volunteer poets run the equivalent of a “poetry marathon,” w...
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
I'm thrilled to share that my poem 도장 (Dojang) appears in the Winter 2025 Issue of The Plentitudes! www.theplentitudes.com/piece/___%EB...
theplentitudes.com
도장
*A stone or wooden seal to sign one's name, used in Korea since the 2nd century B.C.By Nik Chang Hoon 임창훈/ Poetry /
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
Learning craft from the outside in is essential to any artist; equally as important is channeling the craft that already lies within.
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
Writing a poem can take a lot out of you. Sometimes, the recovery afterward feels like part of the poem itself
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
ADHD productivity hack: the new iPhone mirroring feature on macOS Sequoia lets you play movies via your phone app, but only the audio (at least for Disney+). This means I can "listen" to Home Alone without the temptation of watching it, so as not to interfere with the actual task of writing a poem.
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Helping daily my word count reach new heights ...
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Reposted by Nik Nadeau 임창훈
Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
When someone dies, we go searching for poetry. But I want elegies while I’m still alive... I want ballads, I want ugly, grating sounds, I want repetition, I want white space... and even center-aligned italicized poems that rhyme, and most of all — feelings. —Jenny Zhang
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
This year I ascended many kinds of mountains. One of them: the ⛰️ of self-doubt & denial that I deserved to take time off to prioritize my memoir, infused with a nagging fear that "it was too late" to start. Looking back, I'm much healthier now & glad my wife & I prioritized savings when we did.
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Nik Nadeau 임창훈 @nikchanghoon.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Per the BBC: "Representative Lee Seong-yoon, of South Korea's main opposition party ... said he had to climb over a 1.5m (4.9ft) tall fence to get into the assembly because police blocked him, even with identification that he was a lawmaker." www.bbc.com/news/live/cn...
bbc.com
South Korea lawmakers defy president and block martial law as crowds protest outside parliament - live updates
President Yoon Suk Yeo's surprise late-night declaration of martial law has prompted large demonstrations in Seoul.
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